Carlos Kotkin Is a Master Storyteller

Carlos and me

Carlos Kotkin knows how to spin a good yarn.

He's won countless open-mic storytelling competitions for The Moth -- a series of events (and a popular podcast) in which contestants tell stories without notes in cafes and clubs. He got so good at it, in fact, that eventually he was hired to host the shows. When Carlos isn't telling stories, he's writing them.

Carlos is the author of Please God Let It Be Herpes, which chronicles his horrible but hilarious dating experiences. And he's also a busy screenwriter whose credits includes the animated movies Rio 2 and The Star.

On this episode of Write About Now, he talks about his accidental career as a studio executive and what it taught him about why certain movies are made (it’s not what you think), his unlikely journey into the world of unscripted storytelling, and his advice to aspiring writer/storytellers.